A guitarist's exploration of the different possibilities for the instrument. Posts range from theory, harmony and technical aspects of the guitar.

Sunday, December 31, 2006

The Major Scale and its modes

Here are the seven modes of the Major Scale shown in a paralel approach with all the scales starting on the same root. I found that playing modes this way was an ear-opener to me when I first started learning about modes. Rather than viewing them from the same major scale (C Major, D Dorian, E Phyrgian etc. -all are from C Major), by playing the modes from the same root, you get a better sense of how the modes sound in relation to one another.

Although I've written them in the order that they appear in the major scale in the handout, I actually tend to organize them by the chord they go with:

Major Chord ScalesIonianLydian

Minor Chord ScalesDorianPhrygianAeolian

Dominant Chord ScaleMixolydian

Min7(b5) Chord ScaleLocrian

In terms of naming the modes (when someone asks - what are the notes of "your mode of choice"), I usually derive them by changing the notes from the major scale off the same root.

For instance,

To get Bb Lydian,

First, I think of the notes of Bb Major:

Bb C D Eb F G A Bb

and then I sharp the fourth (because the difference between Lydian and Ionian is the sharped 4th in Lydian) - resulting in:

Bb C D E F G A Bb

Here is the information summarized in a chart: (Click on it for a larger version)

I'll blog more on this in a future post! Like always, feel free to e-mail me at guitarharmony at gmail dot com should you have any questions.